The mystery of “cause and effect.”

How come Juan de la Cruz takes it for granted? How did our neighbors drastically reduce poverty? Are we left but to blame everyone and everything else for the abject poverty in the Philippines? 

Every nation started as an emerging country. Is Juan de la Cruz then destined for poverty – a notion that comes from our caste system and hubris in the elite class?

In other words, we are the masters – with our rank and privilege – and Juan de la Cruz is the servant – and meant to be subservient. 

Or is it about human nature – of taking the path of least resistance – that we resort to “pwede na ‘yan”?

Granted not everyone has a business or an economics background, how come over 10 million Filipinos recognized the cause and effect phenomenon in their personal lives? Because they can’t make both ends meet, they had to pursue employment overseas.

We jumped hoops, for example, the comprehensive agrarian reform, OFW phenomenon, the 4Ps, among others. Yet, we’re still figuring out that an economic unit, whether family or country needs the requisite revenues to thrive?

Country revenues – or GDP – are not to be confused with the taxes Government takes from them. That is why the more significant the GDP, the higher the taxes available for the government to respond to what we demand as a people.

And to better appreciate how we compare against our neighbors, look at the GDP per person (PPP-US$): PH = 8,400; TH = 17,900; MY = 29,100. While Vietnam is still lower than PH at $6,900, their exports are over four times more, $304.3-B to our $70.3-B.  And their poverty rate is down to 5.80% versus our 16.60%.

Vietnam’s biggest exports come from Samsung Vietnam at roughly a quarter. They are high-margin products compared to computer chips that we produce, and they are a drop in the bucket compared to the revenues generated by Vietnam from exporting Samsung products.

Our economy relies on OFW remittances and BPO revenues. Even with their $60 billion combined contributions, Vietnam’s exports are still overwhelming. How come as early as 2014 we celebrated our “manufacturing uptick” and our 6%-6.5% GDP growth for many years?

And we still don’t get it? Why we’re the regional laggard?

We must recognize that superior beings don’t sprinkle family or country revenues like manna from heaven.

Let’s take a third-party example, as Trump – so we can do an academic exercise of “cause and effect” – and not be jaded.

“I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by reelection calculations.” [John Bolton’s book expected to allege that Ukraine wasn’t Trump’s only foreign misconduct, Ledyard King, USA TODAY, 12th Jun 2020]

Unsurprisingly, Putin and Xi are celebrating. They can play their games and flex their muscles – as in Ukraine, Hong Kong, the West Philippine Sea, among others. 

In other words, Trump’s vested interests are an open book, straight from the horse’s mouth.

Thankfully, the institutions of America can rise to the occasion even when the supposed leader of the free world undercuts his and the country’s credibility.

“U.S. Navy and U.S. Marines Corps units have been conducting operations in early May in the Asia-Pacific, the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement.

“The activities have occurred throughout the 7th Fleet’s area of operations, which extends from the middle of the Pacific Ocean to the western coast of India, encompassing most of the Indian Ocean. The ongoing activities are focused on increasing interoperability between the two services.

“These operations at sea focus on interoperability to further develop warfighting concepts, improve distributed maritime services, and enable real-world proficiency and readiness in response to any contingency, the 7th Fleet said in a statement.

“Our forward-deployed naval forces at sea are spread from the Sea of Japan to operations in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, Capt. Steven DeMoss, the commodore of the U.S. Navy’s Destroyer Squadron 15, said in a statement.

‘I am excited to bring some of those forces together to conduct a large-scale integration of this nature. It sharpens our warfighting readiness while continuing to support regional security, stability, and international norms,’ he added.” [U.S. Navy, Marines Conduct Integrated Operations in Pacific,  Ankit Panda, thediplomat.com, 18th May 2020]

And how egregious are the inclinations of Trump? Joint Chiefs Chair Apologizes for Visiting Riot-Ravaged St. John's Church: ‘I Should Not Have Been There,’ Craig Bannister, CNSNews, 11th June 2020.

“Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized Thursday for appearing with President Donald Trump. He cleared protesters outside of the White House so that Trump could walk to nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church and be photographed – calling his decision a ‘mistake.’

“As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.”

Let’s get back to the Philippines. We continue to cherish the status quo, aka our caste system, that our vested interests – us in the elite class – aren’t undercut despite being the regional laggard. Sadly, Juan de la Cruz pays the price.

But do our “values” as Christians explain why we aren’t predisposed to reform – as in religion is the opiate of poor?

Consider the admonitions of the church and why we value the “preferential option for the poor.” And related to that is the more contemporary business counsel of “marketing to the bottom of the pyramid.“

Yet, there is also the direction, “It is not about giving fish, but teaching people how to fish.” And it opens far greater insights into the dynamism of the universe we live in and the story of creation. For example, the banishment from Eden was the first lesson in personal responsibility. 

Still, given our “split-level Christianity,” it seems that change is not in our bag of tricks?

“Decades ago, the eminent Jesuit psychologist and priest, Fr. Jaime Bulatao SJ wrote about our split-level Christianity, which he describes ‘as the coexistence within the same person of two or more thought-and-behavior systems which are inconsistent with each other.’

“Fr. Bulatao gave examples of the inconsistency of values with behavior from how Filipinos dealt with pornography, infidelity, and corruption.

“He also explained this split-level Christianity. He proposed that: ‘A study of the two levels may bring out the following analysis: the top or surface level is the more ‘Christian’ part. ‘It is made up of rules and beliefs picked up in school or church. In large part, it is conceptualized, or at least verbalized, usually in a foreign language like English, Spanish or Latin. Much of it is learned by rote, from a catechism or books.’

“Fr. Bulatao then argues that the lower or deeper level consists of the rules, beliefs, attitudes and action tendencies which are more common in the environment, picked up at home and in the street than at school. ‘A large part of it is never verbalized, but acts as a sort of unspoken philosophy, spontaneously flowing into action when the occasion calls it forth, and the inhibitory forces discarded.’” [Philippines: Land of split-level Christianity, Dean Tony La Viña, THOUGHT LEADERS, rappler.com 15th Jan 2015] 

Does our “split-level Christianity” explain why we struggle to embrace the sense of community and the common good?

“Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]

Can we establish the predicate that nationalism isn’t synonymous with parochialism and insularity?

Why do we struggle with these realities? We’re no strangers to the story of creation, of divine oneness, including the photosynthesis phenomenon.

Nation-building is not about the war on poverty or the war on drugs or the war on terrorism. It is traversing the road from “poverty to prosperity.” And it presupposes the sense of community and the common good. It is not about robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is not about the crab mentality.

But then again, why are we amid this perfect storm – of poverty, the drug menace, and terrorism?

Recall our instincts: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism that we rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.

In the previous posting, the blog explained how to forward-think and establish a “recovery” package to fight the pandemic and win.

It is fixing the hindering forces. For example, we must match the magic of Samsung Vietnam and AirPods Vietnam – their export receipts being over four times ours. And also, to lift the marginalized sectors, including agriculture, and provide them life support.

Likewise, to exploit the driving forces. For example, prioritize the eight top listed companies and MSMEs that will deliver the biggest bang for the buck. And also, the vital metro areas of Manila, Cebu, and Davao.

It is not biased for any sector. 

It is inclusive, but not in the way we define it. It is to grant a piece of the package to each sector because to drive the economy aggressively, they each have a role to play – the supply side and the demand side. It is about nation-building, fighting, and winning against the pandemic.

But the efforts don’t stop there. We must keep traversing the road from poverty to prosperity. And that means moving up from a service-consumption economy to an industrial-investment economy. And like our neighbors, we become globally competitive as well. 

Think of Singapore being more competitive than the U.S.

It presupposes the universal law of “divine” oneness. In other words, the sense of community isn’t parochial and insular. And we can be equal partners and not be inferior to other nations as Singapore demonstrated. 

On the other hand, if we can’t toss our caste system and mentality and overcome our bias against foreign interests, including foreign direct investment, we will remain isolated, beset by poverty and victims of “cause and effect.”

Gising bayan!

“You have to have a dream, whether big or small. Then plan, focus, work hard, and be very determined to achieve your goals.” [Henry Sy Sr., Chairman Emeritus and Founder, SM Group (1924 - 2019)]

“Here is a land in which a few are spectacularly rich while the masses remain abjectly poor. And where freedom and its blessings are a reality for a minority and an illusion for the many. Here is a land consecrated to democracy but run by an entrenched plutocracy, dedicated to equality but mired in an archaic system of caste. 

“But the fault was chiefly their own. Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]

“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? Moreover, that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]

“True social reform has little to do with politics. To unmoor ourselves from the burdens of the past, we must be engaged in the act of continual and conscious self-renewal. All men are partially buried in the grave of custom. Even virtue is no longer such if it is stagnant.

“Change begins when we finally choose to examine critically and then recalibrate the ill-serving codes and conventions handed down to us, often unquestioned, by the past and its power structures. It is essentially an act of imagination first.” [David Henry Thoreau; American essayist, poet, and philosopher; 1817-1862]

“National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists. [A] nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]

“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” [William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]

“Development is informed by a people’s worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership . . .” [Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]

“Now I know why Paul dared to speak of ‘the curse of the law’ (Galatians 3:13). Law reigns and discernment is unnecessary, which means there is little growth or change in such people. When you do not grow, you remain an infant.” [Faith and Science, Open to Change, Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 23rd Oct 2017]

“As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media – their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists, and editors – have an obligation to this country . . .” [Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]